


Employee Rulebooks Don't Count Once You're CEO

by piloting



Category: Romantically Apocalyptic
Genre: Alternate Universe, Business AU???, I hope y'all like that, M/M, the au is weird, there's kissing and robots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-17 00:57:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11264682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/piloting/pseuds/piloting
Summary: Charles Snippy finally works up the courage to ask his boss a simple question. However, there is one blonde, annoying obstacle that he has to face.Alexander Gromov and Annie run a rapidly growing enterprise by the name of The Good Directorate. They specialize in technology, and their most recent invention is an android by the name of Christophorus. Annie is concerned with running off their German competitors and marketing, whilst Alexander is tasked with running the main facility and inventing in his spare time. This proximity to his employees allows him to form a few friendships.





	Employee Rulebooks Don't Count Once You're CEO

**Author's Note:**

  * For [my pal Jesse](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=my+pal+Jesse).



Charles rocked back on his heels as he stared at the door in front of him. He could do this. He just had to reach out and knock. Taking a breath, he rapped his boss’ door.

“Come in,” a voice called, moments later. Charles let out a breath and sagged his shoulders. He ran a hand through his unruly hair, attempting to tame the dark strands, and straightened his tie. He cautiously opened the door and closed it behind him with a decisively final click.

The large room stretched a far length, but the back half was lost in a jungle of cords, monitors, and parts. To the left, a ceiling to floor window showed a world of city lights, cascading like an artificial aurora borealis. In the center of the room stood a worn wooden desk, illuminated by harsh florescent lights. It held a commanding, intimidating presence, however, this was dampened by the two figures sitting on it, which clearly violated the desk’s intended purpose.

  
Chris sat, head bowed, facing the shimmering lights outside. A panel on the back of his neck stood open, cold steel stark against his tan skin, reminding Charles once more that this annoyance was mere mechanics. Alex sat atop the desk, legs facing the door, but head bowed over the open panel. He adjusted something with a tweezer before casting a cursory glance towards Charles. He straightened slightly and set the tweezers down on a tray.

  
“Hello, Ch- Snippy,” Alex said, turning to face him fully. In that small space of time his demeanor changed. Despite a budding friendship between the two, Alex felt that he must distance himself from his employees, at least during work hours. “I’m busy. What do you want?”

  
Charles crossed the floor with his suddenly attained confidence, saying, “We closed about an hour ago, but I wanted to ask you a question. Would you-” He stopped walking and talking, focusing on the limp form of Chris to his left. “Is everything alright with Chris?”

  
Charles may find Chris annoying as all hell, but over the past few months he had grown to be fond of him. Chris would come by his desk throughout the day, poking his head in and making a nuisance of himself. Through this, the two men, well, man and bot, had formed a strange relationship. Charles found himself actually caring about the childlike creation, and if that wasn’t scary, he didn’t know what was.

  
When Charles asked Ale- Dr. Gromov this question, Gromov turned towards the bot, and his expression softened. Gromov had a tendency to grow attached to all of his projects. (Just last week he was cooing over a software program!) It appeared that Gromov had taken up paternal feelings towards DEX-M #96-69-12. The way Alex’s countenance softened with paternal love when he looked at Chris was a quality Charles found nice and attractive. After noting this, he spent the next few seconds chastising himself for getting sappy. His crush was already bad enough, dammit!

  
“Oh! Not really, I was running diagnostics, and I noticed an internal receptor that was leaking fluid,” Alex said, and Charles’ brows furrowed for a moment, before realized where the conversation had returned to, “I had to clean off the circuitry and wires and replace the receptor itself. The circuitry is covered in a wax-like hydrophobic coating, so they are waterproof in theory, but I do not want to take any chances. Everything should be fine now, since I replaced the internal receptor with a thicker, older model for now. I’ll be redesigning a sleeker, more sturdy model within the next few days. Hopefully that should improve his balance as well.”

  
“That’s good. I noticed that he was falling more often. Was that because of the broken receptor-thingy?” Charles replied. Alex hummed in response, for he was busy re-attaching the panel on the back of Chris’ neck. He pressed a nearly imperceptible button behind Christophorus’ ear. Alex placed a hand on his shoulder to steady him, as he booted up. Chris’ eyes flicked open, revealing unnaturally green eyes. He straightened up and turned towards Alex.

  
“My time logs say that I was out for two and a half hours. Diagnostics normally do not take that long,” he cocked his head, then turned towards Charles and smiled, “Hello, Charles!” Charles waved back, and then Alex explained why it took so much longer, using much more technical lingo than he used with Charles. He stood up.

  
“...And that’s it. You are free to go, Chris,” Dr. Gromov said. Christophorus hopped off the desk, and began walking away, only to be stopped by Alex’s hand on his shoulder. He looked back at his creator with a questioning look. Gromov fixed him with a stern look, “It is imperative that you are more careful! You are an extraordinary and expensive piece of technology, and you must be protected!”

  
Chris, eyes cast downward, scuffed at the floor with his boots and grumbled under his breath.

  
Alex crouched to meet his gaze and said, “I didn’t mean to upset you. I simply worry for your safety.”

  
Chris shrugged off his hand and looked off to the side, “Yeah.. Okay, dad.” He then looked back towards Dr. Gromov with wide, fear-struck eyes. If he could blush, his face would be fire-engine red. Gromov’s eyes widen. “Uh, I mean, yeah, bye!”

  
Chris then sprinted out of the room, nearly colliding with the door in his scramble to open it. Charles chuckled at that, and he leaned against the desk facing Alex.

  
“Kids, huh?” he said in that way that people say things once they’re trying to seem like they know what they’re talking about. He was trying to lighten the mood, but Gromov paled impossibly further and simply peered at him over his glasses.

  
“You have children?” Alex said, a bit more hastily than intended, “Nothing was mentioned about children or a partner in your file.”

  
“Huh?!” Charles had been staring at Alex, and was struck out of his reverie by this sudden question, “No, no children, sir. Or a, uh, partner.” Charles faced the door, still leaning against the desk, so he was less tempted to stare at Alex’s perfect cheekbones or those freckles that dotted his face like constellations.  
“You?” Charles dared to ask.

  
Alex worried his lip at the difficult question, “I have no current partner, no, but I may have a son. I see Chris as mine, in a way,” he makes a vague hand gesture, “Is he not my offspring? Matters of the heart are difficult to talk about.”

  
Charles was quiet for a moment, for he did not want to interrupt Alex’s musings.

  
Alex decided to break the silence, “So, Charles, why are you here? Not that I do not appreciate the company, but it is very much past time to go.” Charles’ grip became white on the desk.

  
“Sir, I wanted to ask you a question.” No turning back now.

  
“Go on,” Alex said, turning to his employee, curiosity shining in his amber eyes.

  
“I was wondering, well, if you would like to go on a date with me?” Charles said, then looked down towards his shoes.

  
In a very soft voice, Alex responded, “Are you serious?”

  
Charles threw a hand up angrily, refusing to look at his boss, “Of course I’m serious! I may not be classy enough for you, but I thought we had something! I like you, Alex, and I’d like to get to know you better.”

  
Alex begins to giggle, covering his mouth with his hands.

  
At this, Charles breaks, and looks at him. He glares at the shorter man, and he spat out, “You know what! I don’t have to take this. Have a nice night, sir.” He pushed off the table and began to stalk off.

  
“Wait, wait, wait! Charles!” Alex ran to catch up, and he reached out to grab ahold of his sleeve.

  
Charles turned and fixed him with a glare that could reheat even the most freezerburned of microwaveable meals. Alex grabbed his other sleeve in an attempt to keep him there to listen to his pleas.

  
“Charles, I did not mean to laugh at you, nor did I mean to offend you. I asked if you were serious, because I did not think you were attracted to me, too.

  
“Too?” Charles echoed, dumbstruck. Alex smiled a small smile.

  
“Yes, too. You make me nervous in a nice way, like I want to impress you. I’ve never needed approval, yet here I’ve found myself searching for yours,” his smile grew, “But before I get too ahead of myself, yes. Yes, I would love to go on a date with you.” At this, Charles relaxed. Alex released his hold on Charles’ sleeves.

  
Charles coughed slightly. “Friday after dinner work for you? I can pick you up after work,” Charles said.

  
“It’s a plan,” Alex responded. The two stood there for a moment or three, just standing, staring, and smiling. It was like the sort of thing teens do in the halls of school in front of their lockers, clogging the hallways.

  
Alexander cleared his throat and said, “I had better go and find where Chris ran off to. I can only imagine the trouble he’s gotten into already.”

  
“Oh, right. See you tomorrow, sir,” Charles replied and rubbed his neck.

  
Alex paused at the door, considering something, “Wait, but first-”

  
He placed his hand on Charles’ shoulder and lifted onto his toes slightly. He leaned in, aiming for a brush of his lips to rough cheek. However, Charles did not get the memo, for he turned his head at the last moment, resulting in a messy juxtaposition of lips. Gromov melted into the kiss, before realizing what had occurred. He backed away, stammering apologies, but Charles smiled at him. Charles got out a rough, “Come ‘ere,” before Alexander was quickly making contact again. The two were eager for this long awaited contact. Eyes closed, the sensations were much more clear, like sparks passing between where the twain touch. A circuit made when the two came in contact, connecting them and sustaining a pulse.

The two parted, faces flushed.

  
“Wow that was-” Charles began.

  
“Yeah.” Alex finished, breathless.

  
“We have got to do that again sometime.”

  
“I agree, but not right now. I still need to find Chris.”

  
“Yeah, he could be anywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were in the vents by now.”

  
“I hope not. Last time he did that he came out all dusty, and all my allergies were acting up for weeks.”

  
“See you tomorrow, sir,” Charles said. Alex patted his shoulder affectionately, then turns to go.

 

  
“Wow,” Charles breathed to the empty office.


End file.
